


Judgement

by StorySongs



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StorySongs/pseuds/StorySongs
Summary: Not all Witcher trainees make it through the Trials.Not all are killed by them, either.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Judgement

Gods, they could never get the stench of piss, shit, and vomit out of these rooms. It seemed soaked into the very stones, refreshed with every new batch of trainees who screamed their way through the Trials. 

Vesemir wrinkled his nose as he slipped through the door, walking through the maze of cots; each one held a semiconscious trainee strapped down for safety as their bodies burned with mutagens. 

Some of them didn’t need the restraints any longer. 

He frowned as he passed one cot with a still and cooling body; he’d thought Evryn had a better shot than most. Shame. 

No one else was here. No Witcher liked to linger in this stench, and fretting did nothing to change the trainee survival rates. That was all to the good. 

It meant no one was here to see what he was about to do. 

He let his eyes scan the cots, seeking one brown mop of hair; he located it on a cot near the wall. Jesheen, his name was. From his labored panting but otherwise lack of distress, Vesemir thought he’d have a decent chance of living through the mutagens. Why he’d live but Evryn had died Vesemir would never know. 

Sometimes, it seemed, destiny needed a little readjustment. 

He palmed a small vial as he crossed the room and laid a hand on Jesheen’s forehead. The boy’s eyes focused, just a little bit. 

“Vesemir?” He croaked through vocal cords screamed raw. He looked confused, and rightly so; of all the trainers, Vesemir had been the least fooled by his tricks and deceptions. 

Oh, the other trainers saw the effects well enough; the more vicious than usual fighting among the trainees, the small animals found tortured on the Walls. Vesemir had just been the first to track them to their source. The one to clue everyone else in to the danger in their midst. The one to call them all to a judgement hearing, late on the first night of the Trials. 

He had laid out the evidence for them: the deaths, the manipulations, the utter lack of conscience, repentance, or even any understanding of why he was in the wrong. How he held himself apart from the pack of youngsters with nothing but contempt and scheming in his heart.  _ This boy is not a wolf,  _ he had growled,  _ and he never will be. _

Now he would be the one to carry out the sentence. 

“Shh. Easy, lad.” He murmured, unsure if Jesheen was conscious enough to understand or fight. “Here.” 

He popped the uncorked vial between Jesheen’s shuddering teeth and tipped the contents down his throat. 

It was over quickly. Full Witchers were hard to poison; trainees were not. 

Vesemir stayed until the twitching stopped, his head bowed solemnly. He knew, distantly, that a human would feel something in the wake of his actions. Shame, guilt, doubt. All  _ he _ felt was relief. His pack was safe. No monster in Witcher skin would leave this school. 

Well. None would leave it alive, at least. Jesheen’s body would be burned with the rest; just another trainee who failed the Trials. 

Vesemir put the empty vial back on the shelf and left the room, whistling tunelessly under his breath. It felt good to leave the stench of death behind him. In a week he’d have his surviving trainees back in the ring, stronger and more durable, and with the deadly spider in their midst removed he anticipated making real progress with them. 

He was looking forward to it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy, you ever start thinking about how the Witchers are raised and trained and just how messed up it all is? 
> 
> Inspired by a world building note in Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo; during a military order initiation rite, accepted trainees are told the secret of the rite and pass it. Ones who haven’t meshed for some reason or another aren’t told and fail. 
> 
> Witchers must have a similar way of making sure only acceptable trainees make it to the full rank... but they are not nearly as merciful.


End file.
